“I hope we shan’t be kept up too late, Dick; we have to be astir betimes to-morrow, to open that safe.” Rosabelle smiled her sunny smile. “That wonderful safe, uncle, of which nobody but you and Dick knows the secret.” The great financier indulged in a satisfied chuckle. “Yes, young lady, you may smile, but I am very proud of it. It is ‘some’ safe, as the Yankees would say, I can tell you.” CHAPTER II THE RIFLED SAFE Later on, in the small hours, the young couple had a further _tête-à-tête_. The members of the family had done their duty by their several guests, and were at leisure to follow their own inclinations for a while. A celebrated violinist played the opening notes of a wailing melody—the best of its kind was always a feature of the entertainments at Deanery Street—and at the sound, Richard exchanged a meaning glance with his sweetheart. Quietly they stole away to a secluded corner where they could whisper away to their hearts’ content, and were safe from interruption. “Do you find it so difficult to screw up your courage to the sticking point, you silly old Dick?” asked the girl presently in a low voice, pursuing a conversation that had been proceeding for some little time. The young man smiled; the smile was a little rueful and apologetic. “To tell the truth, my darling, I do. When I think of it in cold blood, it seems such a daring thing to do.” “‘Faint heart’—you know the rest,” said the girl, in a bantering voice. “Well, Dick, if you can’t manage it, I shall have to throw my maidenly modesty to the winds, and undertake it myself. I am not afraid of my uncle, if you are.” “But from my point of view, dear, you must admit it wants a lot of pluck. A poor devil of a fellow with a couple of hundred a year of his own, asking a millionaire to consent to a marriage with a niece whom he is going to make his heiress. Wouldn’t ninety-nine men out of a hundred kick me out of the house in double quick time?” The smile on Rosabelle’s charming face grew sunnier than ever. “But first of all, we will say, and it is the truth, that he is the hundredth, not one of the ninety-nine. And then, it isn’t as if he didn’t know. I don’t think we have kept our little secret very much to ourselves, have we, Dick?” “I am not so sure that he does know,” answered the still doubting lover. “He is always so frightfully absorbed in his business, I think it uses up all his faculties. We know we are in love with each other, but I doubt if the fact is so patent to everybody as you think, my darling.”